The Bodyguard
by NekoErza
Summary: Earthland has been in war for 20 years. Having received threats from the enemy, Fiore's king searches a bodyguard for his daughter Erza. Stubborn as she is, she rejects all of them since she doesn't want a bodyguard. When a man who calls himself Mystogan applies for the job, she changes her mind.
1. Fiore Kingdom

So, here's a new story! The setting is obviously a bit different, but I hope you guy's like it.

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**Chapter 1**

_Fiore Kingdom_

Earthland. A land originally divided into several kingdoms, fourteen to be precise (Refer to the map of Earthland). The land hadn't had any wars for over 400 years. But 20 years ago this peace was harshly broken.

The kingdom of Desierto attacked the neighboring kingdom Joya. The ruler of Desierto, King Jiemma, thirsted for more power and land. The unprepared Joya was easily defeated and their royal family was brutally dethroned and they were forced into slavery by the cruel new master. With the new won land came new won lust for power. The reinforced army of Jiemma then attacked the kingdom of Bellum. Although they prepared for an attack when they heard the news about Joya, their untrained soldiers were soon defeated.

Within those 20 years of war Desierto Kingdom conquered almost all of the land. Although there are troops of rebels everywhere, their numbers aren't great enough to reconquer the land. The only independent Kingdoms that are left are Pergrande, Caelum, Iceberg, Seven and Fiore.

Pergrande was able to defend their borders because of their huge amount of soldiers. They are the biggest Kingdom and aren't defeated that easily, yet almost a fourth of the kingdom has fallen into Desierto's hands. Caelum was hard to attack since it is difficult to reach over the stormy sea. In Iceberg's case Desierto never really showed interest in it since the land consists only of snow and ice. There were only a few villages in this cold frozen land, and Jiemma didn't think it would be worthwhile attacking them.

And then there is Fiore. Even though there hadn't been any wars in the last centuries, the Kingdom was known for its warriors and their great bravery. Unlike the other kingdoms the people of Fiore were trained and could all handle weapons or fighting magic. They send troops over to Seven Kingdom to train their citizens and help them defend their borders.

If Jiemma could subdue those trained people and mages, he could use their power. And in that case, all of the remaining Kingdoms would fall into his hands.

"I don't care, father!" the voice echoed through the castle. "I don't need a new bodyguard!" The scarlet haired princes crossed her arms angrily and she gave her father a dirty look.

"Yes, you do! 'Cause you kicked the last one into the hospital!" The man responded.

"Doesn't that just prove I don't need one? What is the purpose of a bodyguard that's weaker than the one whose body is guarded?" Erza mocked. She wasn't planning on losing this conversation.

"I admit you're great at fighting, but that doesn't mean you don't need protection. Our land is in war. You might be able to fight off one or two people, but what if the enemy sends a whole squad? They've tried to kidnap you before. You need a bodyguard!" The king answered. His daughter clearly inherited his stubbornness.

"But…" she tried again.

"That's final!" The king shouted. The whole room went quiet. The king and the princess stared at each other.

"Fine. But look for one yourself, I don't want to have anything to do with it." Erza stormed out of the room. A loud sight escaped the king's mouth. A maid with blonde hair approached the king.

"My lord?" The girl asked.

"Yes, Lucy?" The king said, still a bit absent because of the fight with his daughter.

"Couldn't you be a bit softer for the princess? She's one of the strongest mages and warriors the land has. I think she can protect herself." Lucy said bowing her head.

"I know she's strong, Lucy-chan. But I don't trust our enemy; I got a threat saying they'll take away what's most precious to me: my only daughter." The king turned to look at the maid. "The people of Fiore love their princess. If anything would happen to her, their spirit will be broken and Jiemma will be able to beat us. And…" The king paused for a second. Great sadness could be seen in his eyes. "I can't lose anyone else close to me again."

"I know, my lord. I'm sorry." The girl looked at the portrait of a woman with long red hair: the queen. She died two years ago by the hands of Jiemma.

.

_~One week later~_

"This is Elfman. He'll be your new bodyguard, Erza." The king introduced the big muscular man standing next to him.

"We'll see about that. I don't think he'll last a day." Erza said while walking over to the training area.

"W-What?!" The tall white haired man shouted. "A real man won't give up after only a day!"

"We'll see." The princess said.

After barely two hours the 'bodyguard' was brought over to the hospital. The princess walked over to her father with a triumphantly look on her face.

"I told you, dad. I don't need a bodyguard, especially not an unskilled one like that." Erza said. "He lacks strategy and patience. But he was very strong. If he feels like it, maybe he can join us. He did have the right spirit of mind."

"That doesn't solve the problem about you finding a bodyguard. I won't give up on finding one. And by the way, you won't be allowed off the palace grounds without a bodyguard." The king grumbled.

"I know… What about Gray? He's very strong and skilled." The scarlet mage asked.

"The ice mage? That guy who walks around naked most of the time? Yeah, I didn't think so. He might be strong and a friend of yours, but I won't let my daughter be guarded by a stripper." The king shook his head. "And… he's been reported missing, didn't you know?"

"What? I spoke to him last week. He said he was leaving for a job for about two days, hasn't he returned yet?" Erza asked looking up.

"He hasn't."

"I'm… sure he's all right, the job's probably a bit tougher than he thought. He'll be back in no time." She said convinced. "And what about Loke? He's really strong too."

"That man has slept with most of the women in this land. You really think I'd allow him to be by your side 24/7? I've called over some other candidates. They'll be arriving here somewhere this week." The king left the room.

A loud breaking sound filled the room. Erza had smacked a vase off of a table onto the floor.

"I can't believe that guy. How can somebody be this hard-headed!" she yelled at no one in particular. She kicked the table the vase had stood on.

"I'm sorry to say this, princess, but you're actually like a female version of him." A voice snickered. Erza turned around and saw Lucy. Even though the girl was a maid at the palace, Lucy had been one of Erza's closest friends.

"Oh, hey Luce. Have you been here long? And you know I prefer it when you call me Erza."

"I've been here long enough to hear your conversation. You know, Erza, your father only wants you to be safe." The blonde girl said with a sweet smile.

"I know, I know. I just hate the thought of a person following me around all day." Erza sighted.

"I'd hate it too, glad I'm not a princess." Lucy said.

"You'd be perfect for it though, wanna trade places?" Erza laughed.

"Only if I get that beautiful blue dress you got. And if you look for a handsome prince I can marry, one that looks like he ran straight out of my dreams." Lucy joked back.

"Hmm, so one that looks like Loke?" The princess said teasingly. Lucy went all red.

"N- No! Why'd you think that?" Lucy said trying to act casual.

"Oh come on, Luce, your eyes can't break loose from him when he's around."

Lucy just wanted to say something in her defense when another servant entered the room.

"My lady, I'm sorry to disturb you, but your father forgot to tell you that there already are new candidates." The man took a deep bow. "Would you please follow me?"

"Good luck, princess." Lucy said with a comforting smile.

"Erza." The scarlet mage corrected.

.

"Dad? That man gives me the creeps." Erza whispered to her father, looking over at a small man standing a few meters away.

"He's rumored to be a very powerful mage, Honey. It doesn't matter what he looks like." The king said with a questioning look on his face that contradicted his words.

"I know it doesn't matter what he looks like, but he really gives me the creeps." Erza said, looking at her father who was obviously sharing her opinion, only not out loud. The servant walked over to the small man and introduced him.

"My lord, princess, may I introduce you to

Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki." The servant took a deep bow.

Ichiya sniffed the air and approached the princess. "What a beautiful perfume you have."

With a disgusted look on her face, Erza kicked the man and sent him flying. "NEXT!" she screamed.

The other candidates didn't make the selection either. The following days a lot of other men and women came over to apply for the job as the princess' bodyguard. Even though there were some strong mages and soldiers, none of them got the job.

"How many have come by already?" Lucy asked after four days.

"I dunno… about 30, I guess." Erza sighted.

"Well I hate to break it to you, but another one has arrived." Lucy said.

"Already? I really don't feel like meeting another one." Erza said defeated. She laid her head on Lucy's shoulder. "I've had it. I don't want to go."

"I know you don't, but I think this one is different. He arrived about three hours ago and the whole castle has been in commotion ever since then." She said while patting Erza on the head.

"Why?" she asked a bit interested.

"You know May?" Lucy asked. Erza nodded.

"The girl with brown hair that can sense magical power?" Erza said, still not lifting her head from Lucy's shoulder.

"Yes, apparently when that person walked by May, she passed out. She tried to measure the magic of the strange man and her magic apparently couldn't take the huge amount of power that guy emitted."

"Okay, I admit… now I'm a bit interested."

"Tell me how it went." Lucy said with a final pat on the scarlet hair.

.

Erza walked over to the meeting room, where apparently her father and the mysterious person were waiting. A man, who was the king's advisor, opened the door for her and walked in after her.

"Ah, there you are, Erza!" her father said excited. Next to him a tall person was standing, clothed in a long black cloak, wide pants, and bandages covering his arms and legs. He carried large magic staves on his back. A mask covered most of his face, only his eyes were visible. A bandana with a silver forehead protector covered the rest of his head. "This will be your new bodyguard. Let me introduce you to Mystogan."

"You already decided?" Erza said pissed.

"You should hear what kind of jobs he's done before. I don't think we'll find anyone better than him." The king said trying to sooth his daughter.

"I'd like to decide for myself. A bunch of stories doesn't prove anything, dad." Erza said, looking over at the mysterious guy. For a mere second their eyes connected and Erza felt a shiver go down her spine. She shook the feeling away. "If he can beat me, I'll believe it and I'll accept him as my new bodyguard."

The king sighted and took a step closer to his daughter. "Erza, I really don't think that is necessary. Mystogan, you …"

"Deal. I'll fight you." The deep voice of the cloaked guy interrupted the king.

"You don't have to, Mystogan-san. You got the job." The king said, trying to avoid his daughter to wreck another candidate. This guy was the perfect person, but he wasn't sure he could beat his daughter when she was in a rage.

"No, it's my pleasure. I don't like being doubted." Mystogan countered. Even though his voice was a bit muffled due to the mask, his eyes showed the determination.

"You think you can impress anyone by saying that?" Erza grumbled, now completely pissed off.

"Come and try me, little girl." The mysterious man mocked. She could practically see his smirk through the mask.

"Fine!" Erza wanted to show her father that he was wrong and she wanted to smack the (invisible) smirk of that guy's face. She ran over to the man and swung a punch right to his face. Instead of connecting to the guy's face, she felt a hand clamping around her fist. To her surprise, he had blocked her punch with only one hand. He didn't even move one bit from his spot.

"Good. The rest couldn't even dodge that punch, let alone stop it." Erza said, hiding her surprise. She freed herself from his grip. She gave another few punches and kicks, all he did was block her attacks with one of the magic staves.

"Not bad." She exquiped into her Black Wing Armor and attacked Mystogan again. This time it was obviously harder for him to just block the attacks. He took a few steps back. The fight continued for a while like that, obviously both didn't want to give up.

"Not bad yourself." The guy laughed. "But this lasted long enough. Let's end it."

"You've barely even showed any of your magic." Erza bit at him.

"Neither have you, princess. All you did was changing your outfit, other than that you've just used fighting skills, not magic." Mystogan said. "Just accept me as your bodyguard." He stared into Erza's eyes.

She felt a shiver run down her spine again_. 'What's the matter with this guy?_' she thought.

Even though he didn't show it, she could hear that his breathing was a bit ragged, just like hers. His mask and bandana had shifted a bit and a small piece of blue hair peaked out.

"Show me your magic. IF you're going to be my bodyguard, I have to know what you're capable of." Erza said, taking a deep breath.

"You want magic? I'll give you magic." The guy answered darkly. "Meteor."

Erza blinked and the cloaked guy had vanished.

"Where did h…" Erza's sentence was rudely cut off when she felt something hit her back. She fell to the ground. She looked up only to see the guy hanging in the air with a light glow around him. She felt amazing magical pressure.

"Meteor is the type of magic that allows me to move in such speed, barely anything can keep up." He explained. Before Erza knew it she was slammed to the ground again. And again. And again. And again.

Erza was too shocked and her body hurt so much at the moment she didn't get up. She saw two feet appear next to her.

"I'm sorry, princess. As a bodyguard I should protect you, not hurt you. But you asked for it yourself. I think you've had enough." Mystogan's voice sounded. Erza looked up. The guy had squatted down next to her and hold out his hand to help her up. Stubborn as she was, she did not take it and crawled up by herself.

"Erza, are you alright?" The king ran over to his daughter. "Why do you have to be this stubborn?"

"My lord! You're not going to lock that guy up? He beat up your daughter" The king's advisor shouted. Before the king could say anything, Erza's voice sounded.

"No. A deal's a deal. You're hired." She said looking over at Mystogan.

"You're very honorable, princess." Mystogan answered with a small bow.

"But I have one condition." The scarlet mage continued.

"Yes, my lady?" The cloaked man asked a bit surprised.

"Take of your mask. I don't like not knowing who I'm dealing with."

A small snicker escaped from behind said mask. "Fair enough."

The man brought his hands up to his head and pulled of the bandana. Spiky blue hair became visible. After he tucked away the bandana, Mystogan pulled down the mask.

Erza didn't expect the man to look like this. His face had quite soft features and he looked about the same age she was. A large red tattoo covered the right side of his face. The man stepped closer, till he stood before the princess. He kneeled onto the ground and grabbed Erza's hand. He looked up to her.

"It will be an honor to serve you, Princess Erza."

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_Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think._


	2. Stubborn

Here's chapter 2 already! When I opened my mailbox this morning, it was full with Fanfiction mails. That made me really happy! I'm glad you liked it.

Enjoy the new chapter!

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**Chapter 2**

_Stubborn_

Erza kicked the door to her bedroom open. She let herself fall down on her bed.

"Oww." She mumbled when her sore body hit the bed. Her wounds from the fight with her new bodyguard hadn't been treated yet.

"Erza! What happened?" Lucy asked worried when she entered the room.

Erza told her everything that happened. In the meantime Lucy cared the wounds.

"Where is he now?" The blond mage asked after the story was finished.

"He's getting told what he has to do. Apparently, he's going to guard me 24/7, so he's not only going to protect me. He'll also be some kind of a butler." Erza sighted. "This really isn't anything for me."

"I know, Erza. But this way you'll be safe." Lucy answered.

"But I already hate his attitude!" Erza grumbled pissed off when she remembered how he had spoken to her. He even called her 'little girl'.

"Hehe, he did sound like someone with quite an attitude. But what's more important: was he cute?" Lucy asked excited.

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask that. He…" Erza thought back. She remembered those eyes that send shivers down her spine. "I don't know, well, I do know, he is good-looking, but there's something about him…" Erza tried to explain.

"What do you mean?"

"He has got this big tattoo on his face and it is kind of creepy."

"On his face? Sounds painful!" Lucy said while she thought about what it would feel like to have a needle poke your face over and over again. "Talking about painful, how are your wounds feeling?"

"Much better thanks to you." Erza smiled at the blond girl.

"If only Wendy was here, she would have healed you in no time. But she isn't coming back until the day after tomorrow."

"I'm fine. I'll let her look at it when she's back."

"Good, but now I have to go. They probably need me in the kitchen." Lucy said while she looked over at the clock.

"Say everyone hi for me." The princess said when the blond girl left the room.

Lucy closed the door behind her. When she walked down the hallway she saw a tall man walking towards her. _'That must be him._' She thought when she saw the spiky blue hair. When they got closer to each other she could see his face more clearly. '_Erza was right, he is good-looking, but the tattoo is kind of eerie indeed_.'

Mystogan gave the blond maid a little smile while he walked over to Erza's room. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." The voice of the princess sounded.

"Hello, princess. How are you feeling?" Mystogan asked when he entered.

"Fine." The short answer sounded.

"Someone seems pissed." Mystogan chuckled. That comment only made her even more pissed off.

"Am not." She lied. She gave him a dirty look anyway.

"Don't give me that look. We're gonna be together all the time, wouldn't it be nicer if we got along, Princess?" The blue haired mage answered while he leaned against the door. The smirk was still faintly visible around his lips.

Erza took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Okay. But first of all, don't call me princess. My name is Erza."

"All right, Erza-san." Mystogan nodded.

"Just Erza." She corrected.

"Okay. Erza." He answered. "You're quite different than other nobles I've met."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know many noble men or women that let their staff call them by the first name. Let alone that they have a real conversation with them. And you fight alongside your people. I respect that."

"Well, I'm just another human. Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm better than others."

"Sadly, there are only a few who think like that, prin… Erza." Mystogan smiled while he tightened one of the bandages around his arm.

"Why are you still wearing that outfit?" Erza asked. "Those clothes don't really look comfortable, if you ask me."

"Actually they are very comfortable. These are my traveling clothes, I didn't have the time to change yet." Mystogan explained. "Oh and by the way. I already told your father, but I don't do uniforms."

"Quite the attitude indeed." Erza mumbled.

"I can hear you, you know." Mystogan chuckled.

"I know, but I'm right, aren't I?" She said nonchalantly.

"Maybe." Was all the answer she got.

"So. You're going to be around all the time now." Erza sighted after a short silence.

"Yep. I'll follow you around like a shadow, everywhere you go."

"At least I'll be free of you when I go to sleep." Erza said.

"Actually not. The king gave me an order to guard you while you sleep. Since he got the threat that the enemy wants to kidnap you, he wants you to be guarded especially then. When you're asleep, you're the most vulnerable." Mystogan said raising a finger.

"But… When do you sleep then?" Erza asked confused.

"I've mastered Sleeping Magic. Due to that magic I myself require very little sleep, so I'll rest when you're training or something. Then there are enough other people around to protect you." He explained.

"I hate it already."

.

"You're going to the training area with those wounds? Are you crazy?" Mystogan said.

"Yeah. Being hurt doesn't mean I can't train. By the way I, or should I say 'we', are going on a mission the day after tomorrow. That's why we have to train." Erza said casually. Mystogan just shook his head. Suddenly he heard a rustling sound from a tree nearby. Mystogan acted quickly and threw a beam of magic at the place where the sound came from. A person fell from the tree.

"OWW! Why the hell did you do that?" a voice sounded.

"What are you doing in that tree?" Mystogan asked while he pulled the guy from the ground. A chuckle sounded behind his back.

"Let him go, that's Loke. We have this game from when we were kids: we try to attack each other when the other one doesn't expect it." Erza chuckled.

"Who the hell is this, Erza?" Loke asked angrily while he smacked the hand away that was holding him.

"My new bodyguard." Erza said annoyed.

"So you finally found one?" He asked while looking at the blue haired guy. "I'll get you back for that."

"I'm sure you will, Loke." Erza laughed while she walked further to the training area. When Mystogan caught up to her she chuckled. "I don't know how he does it, but Loke always seems to sneak up on me without me noticing. You might actually come in handy after all."

"When did I become a kindergarten teacher?" Mystogan asked.

"Oh come on, you must have fun sometimes."

"… It's been a while since that happened."

Erza spend around 3 hours training, although she was badly hurt, she still won most of the training matches. She decided to take a short break and sat down under a tree.

"So, what's this mission we'll be going on?" The deep voice of Mystogan sounded.

"Shouldn't you be resting while I train?"

"I don't any at the moment. So, the mission?"

"We're going to check the borders. It's been a while since Desierto attacked, so we expect it to happen anytime. And in the meantime I'm going to look for someone." Erza answered.

"And who is that someone, if I might ask?"

"Nosy much, mister bodyguard?" Erza chuckled.

"No, I just like to know what kind of dangers you put yourself into, miss stubborn."

"He's a childhood friend of mine. He went missing almost two weeks ago when he went on a mission." Erza said. Worry could be clearly heard in her voice.

"I'm sure we'll find him." Mystogan said. Somehow it did make Erza feel better.

"Well time to start again." Erza quickly said, trying to shake the remaining feeling of worry away.

"Shouldn't you calm down a little? You're shaky on your feet. And some of your wounds opened up." Mystogan judged.

Erza just stood up and went back to her training. After another two hours though, she started to wobble on her feet.

"Princess, you're overdoing it. You should rest! Your wounds opened up again." A girl said worried.

"No, I can take it. I…" before she could finish her sentence she blacked out.

.

When Erza finally woke up it was already dark. She was lying in her bed.

"H- How did I get here?" she asked still a bit dizzy. She looked around and saw Mystogan sitting next to her bed.

"You fainted, miss overdo-it." He mocked. "All of your wounds opened up again."

Erza looked down and saw that she had clean bandages on.

"D- Did you…" She asked a bit shocked since changing her bandages meant having to take of her clothes.

"No no no! I just brought you here. The blond girl did, I waited outside." Mystogan quickly said.

"Okay. Thank you for bringing me here."

"That's my job." The blue haired mage smiled. "Now go to sleep. You need it." He stood up.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"I'll be outside of your room. Call if you need me."

"I won't."

"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that." A light chuckle escaped his mouth. He started walking towards the door. When he almost reached it, he turned around again to face the princess.

"Can I ask you something, princess?" He asked.

"Erza." The scarlet mage corrected again.

"Erza."

"Yes, you can ask something." The girl smiled.

"Why do you hate having a bodyguard so much? I get the feeling it goes much deeper than just not wanting to be followed around all day." He asked. Erza stared at him. After barely a day, this man already figured that much out about her.

"I… I'll tell you some other time." She whispered.

"Okay. I understand. Good night, Erza." Mystogan turned to the door again and grabbed the knob. Then Erza's voice sounded again.

"Mystogan?

"Yes?" He said without turning around. Erza continued.

"Why did you want to become my bodyguard?"

Mystogan just stood there for a few seconds, his back still turned at the princess.

"I'll tell you some other time."

He stepped outside and closed the door.

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_I'll be adding a new chapter as soon as I've written it... which will probably be pretty quick, since I have vacation at the moment!_

_Let me know what you think!_


	3. Altairis

Chapter number 3!

Like with my other stories, I always have these ideas of what I would like to see happening in my story, but it's always dificult to fit it into the storyline. And there aways seem to come other events with it. I hope you like it anyway.

Let me know what you think.

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**Chapter 3**

_Altairis_

The princess got quietly out of her bed and put on some comfortable clothes. She used up too much of her magical power to exquip into something else. She looked at the door before she quietly started climbing out of her window, down the wall.

She wasn't feeling tired and decided to go for a walk. But her father ordered her to stay in bed, so there was no way Mystogan would let her go. The only way out was through the window, since he was at the other side of the door.

She was almost at the ground when an unexpected voice sounded.

"Need a hand?" The voice asked sarcastically.

Erza let go in her surprise and fell down, but two arms caught her. She looked up and stared right into Mystogan's eyes. A big smug smile played around his lips.

"Mystogan! What are you doing here?" Erza asked surprised, trying to get out of the mages grip.

"Saving you from breaking your neck, apparently." The answer sounded.

"If you hadn't been around, I wouldn't have fallen. Now let me go!"

"No, no. You're going back to bed. You know, you're not as quiet as you think, Erza." Mystogan mocked.

"I'm not tired. I want to walk around a bit. I've slept already."

"If you keep walking around your wounds will open again. And that wasn't sleeping, you fainted."

"Mystogan, I order you to let go off me!" Erza screamed angrily.

"Alright." Mystogan said and let the princess roll out of his arms. She hit the ground.

"Ouch!" Erza screamed as she hit the ground. She rubbed her back. "I didn't mean like that!"

"Now, you'll have to be a bit more precise next time, Princess. Go back to bed."

"No." Erza said firmly.

"Yes. If you don't go back now, I'll make you." Mystogan threated. "Your father ordered me to keep you in your room so you can rest."

"How are you going to make me?" Erza asked stubbornly while getting up.

"Like this. Sleep." Mystogan waved his hands before her eyes and she instantly fell asleep. "I told you I know Sleep Magic."

.

The next morning Erza woke up in her bed again. Mystogan was standing beside her.

"Good morning, Sunshine." He said with a little mockery in his voice.

"I hate you." Was all she said.

"Oh come on, don't be like that. You asked for it."

"Oh shut up. I hope Wendy gets here fast, so I can get out of this bed."

"She has arrived." Mystogan interrupted. "Look at your body."

Erza did as he said and noticed the wounds were almost gone. A light voice sounded.

"I wish I could have been here sooner, that way the wounds would have completely healed. I wasn't able to heal the one on your arm, it is way too deep and I only managed to stop the bleeding." Wendy said shyly.

"This is more than enough, thank you Wendy!" The princess said happily. The little blue wind mage smiled.

"Get dressed, Erza. Weren't you eager to start the mission?" Mystogan said.

.

The princess, her bodyguard and 10 mages (Loke included) of the royal squad left for the mission. In every village they passed Erza asked about the missing ice mage. Although he should have passed through them, nobody had seen Gray.

"I'm sure we'll find him." Mystogan said when he saw the disappointed face of the princess. She gave him a little smile in return.

"What does he look like by the way? It's hard looking for someone you don't know." Mystogan asked the princess.

"Ah yes, I haven't told you yet! Gray is a tall, muscular guy of 20. He has spiky raven hair and dark blue eyes. He has a scar above his left eye and a big cross-shaped scar on his lower abdomen."

"Well, the scar on his abdomen isn't a very useful description. I'm not going to lift every raven haired person's shirt up, you know." Mystogan laughed.

"That isn't necessary. He'll probably be naked anyway." Erza said casually.

"Ex- Excuse me?" The bodyguard asked surprised.

"Oh, Gray has this strange stripping habit. The chance he's wearing a shirt is about 2% I guess." Erza snickered.

"I… I don't know how to respond to that. You sure have weird friends."

"They are weird indeed. But I can't wish for any better." Erza smiled.

"Must be fun." Mystogan smiled back.

"How about your friends?" Erza asked curious.

"I don't have any." Mystogan answered short.

"W- What do you mean you don't have any? I'm sure you do." Erza asked a bit surprised.

"No."

"I- I see…" Erza whispered, feeling a bit sorry for him. She didn't ask any more, since he obviously didn't want to talk about it.

.

They traveled for a few more days. They checked the borders and were told they hadn't had any problems with the enemy. Sometimes there were small troupes trying to sneak in, but they were all intercepted. Erza thought it was a bit suspicious that there hadn't been any incidents.

About three weeks after they had left the castle, Loke came running to Erza.

"Erza! I've heard news about Gray!" He yelled excited.

"You have? What is it?" Erza asked immediately.

"Apparently, he passed through this village about a day and a half ago." Loke said, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm going to look for him, do you know which direction he left in?" Erza said determined.

"South. He can't be that far. And I'm going with you. I wonder what he's been up to." Loke said.

Erza gave the remaining mages the order to continue checking the borders. She, Loke and Mystogan went to look for Gray. They traveled south, asking the people they encountered about the ice mage. Many had seen him (They remembered well, since he often stripped in the middle of the road.) and showed them the way. The third day since they left the other mages came to an end.

"It's almost dark, let's set up camp. We'll look for him again tomorrow." Loke suggested.

The other two agreed and started gathering wood for the fire and set up their tents.

When they sat around the fire, Erza noticed the dark bags under Mystogan's eyes.

"Mystogan, you haven't slept in three days, tonight I want you to get some sleep. I don't have to be guarded all the time." Erza pointed out.

"It's my job to do so. I can stay awake another night." He reassured.

"Erza's right, Mystogan." Loke said. Mystogan refused again but since Erza and Loke kept insisting he finally gave up.

"Okay, okay! But only if one of you stays awake. I want to be sure someone's aware of what's happening." Mystogan insisted.

"Fine. I'll take the first guard." Erza said. With that Loke and Mystogan went to sleep.

Around 2.30 am Erza thought she heard something, but when she listened closer, she didn't hear the sound anymore so she relaxed again.

'_How does Mystogan do this? This is really boring.'_ Erza thought. She looked over at her bodyguard. He had a relaxed look on his face and his hair was even more messy than usual when he was sleeping. She still wondered what the tattoo on his face was for.

"If you keep staring like that, you might burn a hole in my head." Mystogan suddenly said. He opened his eyes.

"Y- You were awake?" Erza asked surprised. A light blush appeared on her face.

"That noise earlier woke me." He explained. "And when a beautiful lady stares at you, you shouldn't ignore her." He continued with a smirk.

"You heard the noise too?" Erza said, ignoring the last comment, even though her cheeks turned somewhat redder.

"Yes. It was pretty distant though. Maybe some animal." Mystogan said looking over at the place where the sound had come from. He had barely finished his sentence or the sound of a stick snapping sounded. "Not an animal." The blue haired mage whispered. He jumped up and ran into the forest. Erza crawled up too and ran after him.

A white light blinded Erza for a second, before it faded completely, a yellow light showed. Erza could feel the magical pressure. She ran towards the spot where the lights had been. When she got there she saw a person lying against a tree. Mystogan was standing a few meters away. His body was coated in ice up to his neck. When Erza saw that, it hit her who was lying against the tree.

"Gray!" She screamed and ran over to the ice mage. He had already stood up and regained his battle position.

"Ice make: Lance!" The raven mage's attack went to his target. Before it could strike his ice was broken though. Erza had cut it down with her sword.

"Calm down, both of you." She ordered. Mystogan had broken out of the ice and was ready to attack too. As soon as the two male mages calmed down, they went to the camp where Loke waited for them. Erza explained Mystogan and Gray who they were.

"Now that's been sorted out; where the hell have you been, Gray?" Erza yelled angrily.

"Nhn! Calm down, Erza. I told you where I went!" Gray answered a bit scared of the scarlet mage.

"You said you were leaving town for two days. TWO! That was more than a month ago!" Erza said still angry.

"Yeah, but after that I sent you a letter explaining everything!" Gray defended himself.

"No, you didn't! Or at least I didn't receive it." The princess said.

"But I wrote it and I posted it, well Juvia did." Gray said, but then he seemed to understand. "Juvia! Dammit, she didn't send it!"

"Who's Juvia?" Loke asked.

"This girl I met. She has a crush on me and she's extremely jealous. She must have thrown it away since the letter was for you, Erza." Gray explained.

"Where have you been all this time then?" Erza asked.

"While I was on the mission, I ran into Natsu Dragneel. You remember him?" Gray asked.

"That Fire Dragon Slayer? With the pink hair?" Erza said surprised. "He used to work at the palace. But that must have been 5 years ago."

"Yes, he joined a group of rebels, called Fairy Tail after that. I ran into him and he convinced me to join them too. It's a great place." Gray explained.

"A group of rebels?" Loke asked surprised.

"Yes, they are the reason the borders haven't been attacked for this long." Gray said.

"You got us worried for nothing, you damn stripper!" Erza shouted.

"How should I have known that you didn't get my letter?!"

"I- I don't know!"

"How did you find us anyway, Gray?" Loke asked quickly before the two of them started fighting.

"I went to the village today and they told me somebody was looking for me and where you went. I decided to come look for you." Gray said. Looking over at Erza. She still had an angry look on her face, but it faded away after a while.

"I'm glad you're okay." Erza said, finally calmed down. Gray gave her a big smile.

.

The next day Erza got a message saying that they needed her at one of the guarding towers at the border, so she and Mystogan left immediately. Loke joined Gray and planned to go check out Fairy Tail.

"I don't know, Loke. I don't like that guy." Gray said as he watched Erza and Mystogan in the distant.

"You're just jealous." Loke laughed.

"Why would I be jealous?" Gray asked a bit angry.

"Because they get along well. And you used to like Erza." Loke said while patting him on the shoulder.

"That was ages ago. And we just kissed a few times, that's all." Gray said shrugging of Loke's hand.

"Okay, but still I think you are just a bit." Loke teased.

"Oh shut up." Gray looked at the princess and her bodyguard again. "I get a weird feeling about that guy."

.

"I wonder what's wrong at the border that they need me so bad." Erza said to Mystogan.

"Yeah, me too. We'll see. We should reach the point this evening." He said.

They traveled all day and it was already pitch dark when they reached the border.

"Why is there so little light in the building?" Erza asked when they saw the guard tower.

"I don't know. Stay here for a second, I'll go check." Mystogan said. He walked over to the tower while Erza stayed at the side of the forest.

He realized too late that it was a trap. "Erza, run!" He yelled at the princess. More than 30 mages with the Desierto crest attacked them. A large fight broke loose.

Erza requiped into her Heavens Wheel Armor. Mystogan casted a sleep spell, but could only put a few mages to sleep. He tried to get closer to his princess, but got cut off by some enemies. He fought them with his Heavenly Body Magic and tried to reach her again. Erza in the meantime fought of her attackers with her Trinity Sword. The more mages they fought, the more seemed to appear.

"There's no end coming to it." Mystogan said after another regiment of mages attacked them. "Erza, are you okay?" He shouted over to the princess.

"I can't keep up much longer!" she shouted back, worn out from all the fighting. Mystogan saw the wound on her arm that still hadn't completely healed was bothering her moves.

"Erza, look for cover! I'm going to try something, but if you don't watch out I might hurt you too." Mystogan said to Erza using telepathy. Erza requiped into her purgatory Armor and search for cover. Her attackers were too distracted by Mystogan to follow her.

"Fall into infinite darkness, you scum." Mystogan said. He crossed his arms above his head.

A strong wind started to soar and all the shadows started to bend towards Mystogan. A small black orb formed above his head that steadily grew larger. The orb looked like it was made out of the night sky.

"Altairis!"

With that word Mystogan released the orb onto their enemy.

* * *

_I got messages from some people asking if I was going to raise the rating to M and that I put more... spicy situations in it, like I did in my other stories (or I'm planning to do in my other stories). Should I? _


	4. Man behind the mask

Ta-daa, chapter 4! I really had much fun writing this one and have a good feeling about it actually. So I hope you like it just as much and have fun with it.

Last chapter I asked you if I should raise the rating to M and I think I will. This chapter isn't really M-material yet, but I sure plan to put one in actually.

Enjoy reading!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_Man behind the mask_

"Altairis."

All of the enemies ran away in fear when they saw the dark orb that looked like a black hole. Nonetheless the orb flew towards them and crashed between them. Most of the Desierto soldiers flew away by the pressure and were severely wounded from the impact. The ones that didn't get a direct hit fled away as fast as they could.

When he was sure every last one of them was away or defeated, Mystogan ran towards the princess. She had requipped to her normal outfit again. A lot of blood seeped out of the wound in her arm.

"Are you alright, Erza?" The blue haired mage asked worried.

"M- My arm just hurts really bad and your last attack… I think it affected me too." She panted.

"I'm sorry, Altairis is an attack that hits everything on its way and the impact is huge."

"I've noticed. I can barely breathe."

"I'll get you away from here. They might come back with back-up, so it's best to be as far as possible." Mystogan said while he aided the princess' arm, feeling bad that he was the one that inflicted the wound in the first place. Then he helped the princess up and wrapped one of his shirts around her shoulders to keep her warm.

The two returned to the forest, searching for a safe place to spend the night. When they had walked for more than two hours, Erza could barely remain on her legs.

"We should get a bit deeper into the forest, that way they won't find us. Come here, I'll carry you. Your legs are almost giving in."

"N- No, I can walk myself." Erza said shaking her head. Her legs were shaking even more, so she had to hold herself up against a tree.

"This isn't the time to be stubborn." Mystogan said a bit annoyed. He scooped her up into his arms. She wanted to protest, but Mystogan gave her a warning look, so she remained quiet. If she had to be honest, it actually felt really good to be carried, since her legs really couldn't hold out any longer. After another hour, Mystogan stopped.

"I think we're far enough." He said as he put Erza down on the ground. "You just sit here and rest. I'll get the tent and gather some wood for a fire."

"I'll help, my legs had some time to rest."

"What did I tell you?"

"Mystogan, I don't want to be a bother and I don't like just sitting around when others are working. I don't want to be useless."

"You're not useless."

Erza pouted stubbornly. Mystogan sighed. "Fine, if you really want you can maybe gather some wood over here. Just don't walk around too much and as soon as you feel bad, sit down."

And so the two set up their camp. Erza started a campfire and prepared something to eat. When Mystogan wanted to put the tent up he noticed a big tear in it.

"Well that won't be of much help. I guess we'll have to remain underneath the stars."

Even though it was in the middle of the night, neither of them went to sleep and just remained around the fire. Both of them shivered when a cold wind passed by.

"Here take my cloak. It will keep you warm." Mystogan said, reaching for his neck to untie the long dark cloak.

"No, then you'll be cold." Erza said.

"Really, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm your bodyguard, I have to make sure you're okay."

"You're cold too. You should keep it because you're already wearing less than me. I'm already wearing one of your shirts. I'm not going to take your cloak too." Erza said firmly.

"Fine, fine. I've got another idea." Mystogan got up.

"Idea?" Erza asked wonderingly.

Mystogan walked over to Erza and sat down behind her, so she was sitting between his legs. He pulled her closer so her back was leaning against his chest. Then he wrapped his cloak around her.

"This way we'll both be warm." The blue haired mage smiled. A small blush appeared on Erza's face.

"T- Thank you." Erza said a bit shy.

"You don't mind do you?" Mystogan asked when he heard the small stutter.

"No! It's fine." Erza quickly said. She actually really liked the warmth of his body. Her hearth started beating a little bit faster. They sat like that for a while but then Erza shivered again.

"Still cold? Probably because you're tired and sore." He reached for the bandana on his head and placed it on hers. "There, looks much better on you." He smiled. The princess turned her head to him and smiled back.

"No complaining? That's a first." Mystogan snickered.

"Yeah, the last few weeks with you I've figured out it doesn't work on you, so…" she smiled.

"Finally, some common sense." Mystogan laughed.

"Hey, you're just as stubborn as I am!" Erza laughed back. She nestled a bit deeper into the warm cloak. She could hear Mystogan's calm breathing and heartbeat, which comforted her.

"Thank you." She whispered after a while.

"What for?" Mystogan said. When he started speaking she could feel the vibration of it against her back.

"For saving me back there. If you weren't there I… I would have been killed or kidnapped for sure."

"It's my job to keep you safe. I won't let anything happen to you. I've told you before, didn't I? I'm prepared to give my life for you and keep you alive."

"I don't want you to. Don't ever die in order to save me. I wouldn't forgive myself." She said firmly. After a deep sigh she continued. "A few weeks ago, before we left on the mission you asked me why I didn't want a bodyguard. Well this is the reason. Nobody should lose his or her life for mine. Not again…"

Mystogan could hear the pain in her voice. "Again?"

Erza took a deep breath that sounded a bit ragged. "Two years ago my family and I traveled to the Kingdom of Seven to give advice and help them reinforce their army. We had to travel close to the border and one day we got attacked by a large group of enemies. Normally we could have beaten their amount, but their leader wasn't just anybody. It was Jiemma himself." Erza paused for a second, a shiver ran down her back when she remembered that awful day. "A lot of people died that day, including my mother. She was protecting me and was killed by Jiemma's magic." A sob escaped Erza's mouth. "Ever since that day I want to take care of myself. I don't want people to die because of me. I never forgave myself for what happened to my mother." Tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I… I didn't know… I'm sorry… That's really horrible." Mystogan wrapped his arms closer around her in a comforting way.

"Promise me you won't die because of me. Promise!" Erza said, rubbing away her tears.

"I promise, Erza."

The princess smiled. "I've told you my reasons, now it's only fair to tell me yours."

"I told you before: I'll tell you some other time."

"This is another time."

"I don't like telling it."

"I didn't like telling mine either. Come on tell me why you wanted to be my bodyguard so much." Erza said.

A small mischievous smirk appeared on Mystogan's face. "Who doesn't want to work for a hot princess?"

"I'm serious!" Erza said trying to hold back her laugh. She started poking him. "Tell me. Come on, tell me, Mystogan. Mystogan, tell me. Mystogan. Mystogan." Erza teased. Mystogan laughed.

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you. But I warn you, it isn't a nice story." He said holding Erza's hand to stop her from poking him. She leaned her back against his chest again and snuggled deeper into the cloak.

"I didn't expect it to be nice. Stories like these never are." She smiled a little smile as she looked at her bodyguard. "I would just like to know more about you, Mystogan."

He looked at the girl's sweet smile and sighed. "Jellal."

"What?" Erza asked not getting what he just said.

"My name is Jellal, not Mystogan."

Erza looked up in surprise, but then smiled again.

"You look like a Jellal. It really fits you, why did you change it?"

"It seemed easier to forget everything that happened. A new name gave me the feeling that I could start over again. Like I was reborn and gave me new strenght, but actually it didn't work at all. I was never able to forget."

"Forget what?" Erza asked carefully.

"I was born in Minstrel. I was 5 years old when our village was attacked. A lot of the villagers died and the ones that survived and refused to join Desierto were imprisoned or enslaved. Until I was 10 years old I had to work in the mines with my little sister. My father was killed in battle and my mother died in prison."

"What happened when you were 10?"

"I escaped with my little sister Meredy. We trained our magic and that way we were able to survive. But she was captured again 4 years later. I decided to get her back but in order to do that I had to become more powerful. I had already learned a lot about my magic but I decided to gain even more power so that I could break her out again. I started an intense training and mastered Heavenly Body Magic." Jellal took a deep breath before continuing. "Almost a year ago I wanted to save my sister and attacked the prison. I was able to defeat everybody and free everybody, but Meredy wasn't there anymore. I have no idea where she is or if she's even alive."

Erza looked at Jellal worried. She could hear the pain in his voice and see it on his face.

"That's why I traveled to Fiore. I'm not able to find Meredy, so if she's still alive the only way to save her is to end this war. And if there's one capable to defeat Desierto it must be Fiore. The people are strong and well trained. They are known for their magical talent. But there is something else that makes them strong. They get their strength and hope from their brave princess. So I decided to protect that hope and strength." A small smile appeared on his lips.

"You're truly amazing. I'm sure you'll be reunited with your sister one day, Mystogan." Erza smiled.

"You can call me Jellal."

"Jellal." Erza smiled. Jellal wrapped his arms closer around her when she shivered again.

They sat like that for a while and stared at the fire. Jellal's hand slowly started to caress Erza's arm and he leaned his cheek against her head. The places where his body touched hers were glowing and Erza's heard started beating slightly faster.

"You're also my hope and strength." Jellal whispered. Erza turned her head to look at him and met his eyes. She couldn't imagine that those two beautiful orbs send shivers down her spine the first day they met. Now she felt like she could look at them forever.

"Erza…" Jellal whispered. His thumb caressed the soft skin of her cheek and lips. Suddenly the scarlet mage leaned closer and placed her lips on Jellal's. He was a bit surprised at first but then eagerly welcomed the lips and answered her kiss.

Erza soon broke the kiss and placed her hand before her mouth, shocked of her own action. Even though she pulled away, Jellal could still taste her sweet flavor on his lips, already missing hers.

"I'm sorry, that… that was inappropriate." She said with a bright blush on her face.

"I didn't mind." Jellal answered and he pulled her head closer and melted their lips together again. After a while he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, asking for entrance. He wanted more of that sweet taste. The princess granted his wish and slightly opened her mouth. He slipped his tongue in and quickly found Erza's.

In the meantime Erza had clasped her arms around the blue haired mage's neck. Jellal's left hand lay on her hip as the other one still caressed the skin of her cheek and neck.

After a while he shifted his legs so he could sit cross – legged. He pulled Erza into his lap so their bodies could be even closer.

Finally Jellal broke their kiss. He rested his forehead against Erza's. "You should get some sleep. We have a long way to go tomorrow."

"What about you?" she asked still a bit numb from the passionate kiss.

"I'm fine. Sleeping magic, remember?" He smiled. "I'll just guard you and keep you warm."

Erza nodded and placed one last kiss on his lips. She laid her head against his shoulder and Jellal wrapped his arms and cloak around her again. Erza couldn't imagine that she ever had felt so safe and warm in her life.

With his taste still on her lips and the sound of his calm breathing she soon drifted asleep, forgetting all the bad that had happened today.

* * *

_So how did you like it? Please let me know._

_By the way, if you have some suggestions for pairings or events for a story, you can always let me know. Just put it in a review or PM me and I'll happily make it into a story!_


	5. Fairy Tail

Chapter number 5! I had this great vision of what it should look like but somehow I couldn't put it on paper (or screen, you know what I meant). I must have rewritten it a 100 times and it's still not what I want it to be... I don't think it will ever be, so I decided to post it anyway.

I still hope you guys like it.

* * *

Erza slumbered between sleep and being awake. She could feel the warmth of the cloak wrapped around her. A strong yet calm rhythm bounced in her ear. A heartbeat. Then she remembered where she was and that the warmth she felt wasn't just from the cloak but also of the two strong arms wrapped around her. Slowly the sleep faded away and she opened her eyes. She had to blink a couple of times to adjust to the light. After a few seconds her vision became clear.

The princess looked up and saw her bodyguard's face. He had his eyebrows in an angry frown, a dark and gloomy expression covered his face.

"What's with the angry look?" She whispered because her voice was still a bit hoarse. As soon as he heard the girl's voice he looked down and his expression changed. A big smile played around his lips.

"Nothing, I was just thinking." He smiled.

"You're scary when you're thinking." She chuckled.

"Haha, sorry. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, actually I slept great." She nodded with a smile. She saw Jellal's face go serious again. "What's wrong?"

"I'd like to apologize." Jellal said while he loosened the grip of his arms a bit.

"What for?" Erza asked surprised.

"For last night. I shouldn't have done that, I forgot my place." Jellal unwrapped his arms from her and helped her get up.

"Oh, I see." Erza said a bit disappointed. "I'm… sorry too. I was pretty emotional, so I lost control of my feelings for a moment. It won't happen again."

There fell an awkward silence for a few seconds.

"So… what's the plan?" Jellal said breaking it. Erza thought about it for a moment. "We need to inform my father about what happened. This area definitely needs more defenses. I suggest we go to the nearest village and send him a message."

"Then that's what we'll do."

The two mages packed their things and started their travel.

"If I'm right, we should reach the town by sunset." Jellal said when they left. The rest of the day went by pretty quiet. They didn't speak much, yet the silence wasn't awkward anymore. They both took time to think about what exactly happened last night. It was still almost 2 hours before sunset when they arrived at the village.

"We got here faster than I thought." Erza mentioned.

"Yes, indeed. Last night we went a lot further into the forest than I expected." Jellal nodded. "I think that shop over there has a communication Lacryma, we should probably contact your father first."

They went to the shop and got to use the lacryma crystal. They informed the king of the situation and he immediately sent more defense troops. He then told his daughter to come home as fast as she could. He was pretty pissed off that she left the mission team and went out on her own. He started a speech about how big a risk it was and how reckless it was to leave the rest. Erza ended the communication as soon as possible.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about the attack and just ask for reinforcement, now he definitely won't send me on any mission again." Erza sighed.

"Come on, he wouldn't do that."

"You don't know my father. I'm never going on a mission again. "

"Not even when I come along?" Jellal laughed.

"Maybe then he might let me." Erza smiled. "But for now I think it's best to return to the castle. It will take a while before we get there."

"We should stay the night in this town. I think it's best to avoid the forest at night. Not taking any risks." Jellal said while he stepped out of the store.

"I guess you're right, let's find a place to stay."

They walked through the small town and decided to stay the night in a small hotel.

"Two rooms, please." Erza said to the small lady behind the counter.

The lady smiled and looked around Erza to Jellal who lingered around in the lobby. "Are you sure you want two rooms? If I had a man like that with me, I'd make sure I'd get only one room. He's cute!"

A small blush appeared on Erza's face. "N- No, two rooms, please. He's just my bodyguard."

"Too bad." The lady snickered as she handed Erza two small keys. "Room 218 and 220. Every room has a private bathroom and if you need room service you can use the small lacryma next to the room's door. "

Erza thanked the friendly lady and walked over to Jellal.

"Which room do you want?" She asked while she held up both the keys.

"You got me a room? You know I will guard your door, so I don't need one." Jellal said a bit surprised.

"You need some sleep. Even though you're though, yesterday's fight must have cost you a lot of energy. In this village we're safe, so I don't need protection. This will probably be the only chance you'll get to have some decent sleep you know." Erza countered.

"I… well I can't really deny that logic." Jellal had to admit. "You can pick a room, Princess."

"Don't call me that, but I will take room 220 then." Erza smiled.

The rooms weren't really big, but they were nice and clean. The room had a nice looking big bed, a closet, a small table and two comfortable chairs.

"If there's anything you need or there's something wrong, call for me okay?" Jellal said before he went to his own room.

"I will, but I don't think it will be necessary. This is a very peaceful town." Erza said. She turned around to look at her bodyguard. He was closer than she thought and as she turned she bumped into him.

"Wow, careful." Jellal snickered while he kept her from falling.

"You were closer than I expected." Erza laughed, she looked up at the blue haired man. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds.

"Well… I should probably go to my own room." Jellal said with a nervous smile.

"Oh, yes… tomorrow will be a tiresome day too, better rest." The princess smiled. "Good night."

They didn't avert their eyes from each other and for a moment it seemed that Jellal would lean in closer to give her a goodnight kiss but he quickly regained his posture.

"Good night, Erza." He smiled while he let go of her arms. He turned around and left the room.

Erza was left behind and felt a little lost for a moment. She decided that a nice warm bath would get her mind off of things. She soaked in the warm water for about an hour and then decided to go to bed.

The sheets were soft and warm. She snuggled a bit deeper into them but she missed the warmth of the arms she felt last night. Not even the softest bed could ever compare to that.

.

The princess and her bodyguard traveled for a few more days, steadily getting closer to the castle. They often had to sleep outside in the forest, but after about a week they reached another village. Erza had noticed that since the night they kissed, Jellal kept a safe distance between them. He avoided as much bodily contact as possible.

"Erza!" A voice yelled from the other side of the street. The princess turned her head towards the sound and a big smile appeared on her face.

"Loke! What are you doing here?" She ran towards her friend and gave him a big hug.

"I waited here for you. I knew you would travel through this village, so I checked every day and finally you're here." The orange haired mage said.

"You waited for me? You could have returned to the castle without me, Loke. You shouldn't have waited all this time." Erza said.

"Well… That's the thing. I'm not going back to the castle." Loke said a bit uncomfortable.

"What?! Why not?" The princess asked surprised.

"I decided to stay at Fairy Tail. That place is really great and I already made a lot of friends there."

"Fairy Tail? The rebels Gray joined a while ago?" Erza asked.

"Yes. I decided to stay too." Loke said with an apologizing look on his face.

"Are they really that great? Now I'm gonna have to miss both you and Gray." Erza said while she gave her friend another hug.

"It's really great and of course we're going to miss you too!"

"The castle is going to be so boring without you guys. Lucy and Wendy are going to be very sad also."

"Why don't you come with me to Fairy Tail?" The orange haired mage asked.

"What? You know I can't do that." Erza said surprised. As a princess she was obliged to go back.

"Just for a few days then. I know you will love it. It will be really useful too since they have fought with the enemy a lot of times and they have information that might help you set up defenses and they are also great mages so they will be a great help for battle strategies too."

Erza thought about this for a second and asked Jellal what he thought about it.

"I think the king will understand if you go, it will be a great benefit." The bodyguard said. "With all those people around you'll also be safe."

"Then it is decided!" The scarlet mage said excited.

"Great! Then let's go, we'll be there in about three hours." Loke said equally excited.

And so they left for Fairy Tail. When they got there they got a warm welcome to their guild and got to meet the master. He was a small old man but Erza could feel his great magical pressure, she instantly had great respect for the man.

A big party was organized that evening and it was nothing like Erza had ever seen before. People danced, played, had fun, had fights, drank barrels of beer and so on. She got to meet almost every member and she instantly liked every last one of them. Her bodyguard on the other hand didn't feel that well between a lot of people, he had put his bandana and mask back on and sat in some dark corner.

She wanted to go over to him when the guild doors slammed open.

"Erzaaaaaa!" A guy came running towards her and jumped on her. Within a second Jellal stood beside her and pulled the guy off of her by his scarf.

To his surprise Erza was laughing as she crawled up. "Calm down, Jellal. That's Natsu, an old friend!"

"What the hell is your problem?" the pink haired mage said while he tugged at his scarf. He looked at the cloaked man. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"He's my bodyguard." Erza snickered. "You look great, Natsu! You sure got taller." She looked at the dragon slayer who had his big signature smile on his face now that brought back many memories. Him, Gray and Erza used to play a lot together when they were kids. The last time she saw him was five years ago and she remembered that he barely even reached her shoulder back then, now he even was taller than her.

"You haven't changed a bit Erza." He smiled.

Jellal returned to his spot in the corner again and stayed there for the rest of the night. He watched everybody that got close to the princess and registered every move.

Around 3 am most of the guild members were too drunk to stay straight so they decided to call it a night. Gray showed her and Jellal their rooms then returned to his own.

"You were awfully quiet all night." Erza said to her bodyguard.

"I don't feel comfortable around too many people. I rather have they leave me alone, that's one of the reasons I wear the mask: people don't try to talk to you."

"I really liked the party though. It was great to meet everybody. They are all amazing. I can imagine why Gray and Loke decided to stay." She smiled.

"I'll try to be a bit more sociable next time." Jellal snickered.

"I'll keep you to that. Maybe you should start with taking the mask off."

Jellal pulled the mask down, a smile played around his lips. When Erza saw it, a fluttering feeling rose in her stomach.

"Well, good night." She quickly said and stepped into her room.

_'Focus Erza, you shouldn't be feeling all these things_.' She thought.

.

The next day she got a tour around the guild. The days after she was informed about what the guild had been doing; they took care of enemies that sneaked in and they regularly did missions out of Fiore. They talked about the strategies they managed and which were the weak spots in the enemy's defense.

A whole week went by. Erza decided to take a day off from all the war-talk and spend the day with her friends. Natsu talked about how he met the guild and what he had been up to the last few years. Jellal didn't leave Erza's side for one second and the last few days he became a little more comfortable. Loke told about the many beautiful ladies he met in the guild and Gray tried to convince Erza to stay.

"Come on, this place is amazing. You should stay!" the ice mage said trying to get her to stay.

"It is amazing indeed." Erza smiled.

"Then stay!"

"You know I can't, Gray." Erza said even though she'd love to stay. After only a week this place already felt like a home.

"But what will I do without you, I can't live without my Erza." Gray laughed.

"Awww, I will miss you too." Erza said as she hugged her friend.

They spend the whole day together and it was already midnight when they returned to their rooms.

"You sure get along well with the ice mage." Jellal smiled while they walked through the hallway.

A small blush appeared on her face. "We've been friends since we were kids and well… we kinda used to date a few years back."

"Really?" Jellal asked surprised.

"Yes, he was my first boyfriend." Erza answered, the blush still on her face.

"So you like the stripper-type?" Jellal laughed.

"Haha, not particularly." Erza snickered. "He's a great friend and he's really sweet. I can always count on him."

"Then why did you break up?"

"We decided we were better as friends."

They reached their rooms.

"I'm not really that tired yet. Wanna hang out some longer?" Erza asked.

"Sure why not."

"Come on in." Erza said while she opened her door.

For the first time since she got here Erza spend some time with Jellal. The last few days were really busy and there were always people around. And when there were people, Jellal usually went silent. But now it was just the two of them, he really opened up. They talked and laughed together and had a great time. Erza could feel the fluttering feeling in her stomach every time she looked at him. She remembered how great their kiss had felt, which made the feeling get even stronger.

"I should probably go to my own room." Jellal finally said. He stood up.

"Aww, too bad." Erza said as she also stood up. Jellal looked at her.

"I had a great time." Jellal smiled.

"Me too."

"I'm really glad I was able to meet you, Erza. You are an amazing person."

"I always though having a bodyguard would bother me, and believe me in the beginning you did," Erza snickered. "But now… I couldn't imagine not having you around."

Erza looked up at Jellal's face. As soon as their eyes met, the fluttering feeling became stronger than ever before. As much as she tried she couldn't avert her gaze from those beautiful dark eyes.

She took a step closer to Jellal and placed her hands on his arms. Even through the clothing she could feel the warmth she had been craving. Before she really knew it two warm lips pressed against hers. Jellal wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. The scarlet girl snuggled closer to him. The kiss soon grew deeper and their tongues met each other. She had to stand on her toes to reach his lips, and even then he had to lean forward. Still holding her, he broke the kiss.

"We shouldn't do this." He panted.

"Why not?" Erza asked as she pressed her lips against his again.

"I'm your servant, I can't and shouldn't touch you this way." Jellal said.

"But I want you to." Erza said as she ran her hands through his hair and caressed his cheek.

"I... really can't, Erza."

"Then why did you kiss me?" Erza whispered confused. She stared into the dark eyes again.

"Because I'm an idiot that fell in love with the princess. With the one girl I shouldn't." Jellal confessed.

"But what if the princess fell in love with you too?" Erza placed another kiss on his lips. The sweet taste of it made Jellal lose his will to listen to his common sense.

"Still we shouldn't. I… can't explain why, but we really shouldn't do this. It's wrong." Jellal said with all of his remaining control.

"I don't care."

Erza attacked his lips again and it seemed that the man finally gave in to his desires and forgot about whether it was wrong or right, if they should or shouldn't.

* * *

_End of the chapter. I ended it here since I plan to make a smutty part next and I decided to put it into a new chapter so that the people who don't like reading it could just skip it. For the smut-lovers: prepare for the next chapter!_

_Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!_


	6. Scarlet Flames

Finally! It's been a while since I was able to upload, which I'm sorry for. I'm overloaded with work for college and I can't seem to find the time to write. Man, I hate school. I was able to finish this chapter by neglecting my work, so you better give some good reviews, haha! I got a lot of PM's asking when I was uploading again and stuff. That made me really happy, that way I know I don't write these stories for nothing. So thank you all for reading!

I hope you will enjoy it, I didn't really have the time to check-read this chapter, so if you find any mistakes, I'm sorry, but otherwise it would probably take another few days before I can upload this.

**_Warning: this chapter is pure smutt. Like I explained at the end of last chapter I put this in a different part, so that the people who don't like reading this stuff can just skip it and still be able to follow the story._**

This is also my first smutty-scene with a straight couple. My other dirty work was yaoi, apart from 1 little part in 'The refreshing heatwave'. Somehow I got more difficulties writing this, which probably only proves my yaoi-obsessed mind. Still, I hope I did well!

But I'll stop my blabbering now. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Scarlet Flames**

"I don't care."

Erza attacked Jellal's lips again. Even though he had said they shouldn't do this, Erza could feel not the least resistance in his lips.

She lightly tugged at his clothes, pulling him with her to the bed. Jellal placed his arm behind her back and lifted her off her feet, onto the soft sheets. He also climbed on the bed, careful not to crush the scarlet girl with his body. Erza quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss.

After a few minutes they broke the kiss to catch their breaths. Jellal smiled as he saw the girl's flushed face.

"You're cute." He chuckled. "Your cheeks are all red." He ran his thumb across the burning skin, which made Erza only blush even more.

"Don't stare, I hate it that I blush this easily."

The blue haired mage chuckled again and gave both her cheeks a gentle kiss. Erza ran her hand through the soft blue hair. Jellal took her other hand and kissed her fingers.

"Everything about you is so nice and soft." He gently rubbed his lips against her soft skin.

Erza started blushing again. Jellal looked incredibly sweet when he did that, with his eyes closed, enjoying the touches. She never thought he could be like this. He opened his eyes again and met Erza's gaze. The scarlet mage could get lost in those beautiful dark eyes, but for a slight moment she saw the man's gaze go from sweet to the one that had sent shivers down her spine the first day they met.

"W-What's wrong?" she asked worried, not able to suppress a shiver. Jellal's gaze went a bit softer again.

"I… still feel guilty about doing this."

"How many times do I have to say that you shouldn't?" Erza chuckled. She looked at the blue haired man and saw the sweetness return in his eyes.

"I guess you're right. I'm just struggling with my conscious a bit."

"Don't. Just… hold me."

Jellal smiled and obeyed his princess. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips against hers, and lost themselves in the kiss again. After a while Erza slightly tugged at Jellal's cloak and fidgeted at the closing. Jellal reached up and easily took it off and threw it on the ground.

The blue haired mage freed his lips and started placing kisses on Erza's chin and neck, gently nibbling at the soft skin. A small moan escaped the scarlet mage's mouth when his lips touched a sensitive spot under her ear. She could feel the man smirk against her skin before he attacked the spot again.

"It… tickles." Erza panted.

"But you make such a lovely sound when I do this…" He softly scraped his teeth over the spot and earned another light moan. He placed his mouth back on Erza's and played with her tongue again.

Erza was surprised how fast this man's behavior could change. One moment he was regretful over doing this, the next he happily played along. But she liked both sides.

She jolted a bit when she suddenly felt a hand slip under her shirt and let out a little surprised gasp.

"Oh, should I stop here? If you don't want to take it any further than this, it's fine by me." Jellal quickly said as he saw the girl's reaction.

"No, no! I want this, it just surprised me a bit." She bit her lip shyly. "I've never…" The blush returned to her cheeks.

"You've never…? Really?" The blue haired mage asked surprised. "I expected you and the ice mage…"

"Oh no, no, no." Erza interrupted. "That was just a romantic fling a few years ago, we never really went further than kissing."

"And with anybody else?"

"No…" Erza blushed even harder. "As a princess I'm supposed to marry a prince and well… save myself for the wedding night. That's how the tradition goes."

"Not really helping with the 'I'm-feeling-guilty-about-this'" Jellal responded. "Maybe we shouldn't do this after all."

"No! I mean, I don't want to marry someone just because he's a prince. I want to be with someone that I feel save and happy with… like with you." The scarlet mage smiled.

"Won't you get in trouble for it?" Jellal asked, still not feeling good about this. Even though he really didn't want to stop, he couldn't do this to the girl if she'd get into trouble for it.

"My father never was a big fan of old-fashioned traditions." Erza smiled. "He always told me I should choose a partner that I like, not just because he's got some prestigious title."

"I like your father." Jellal smirked. He gave Erza another kiss. "Just tell me if I have to stop."

Erza nodded and their lips met once more. The bluenette's hand wandered off to the hem of her shirt and he ran his fingers up and down her belly, teasing her sensitive skin.

"I want to feel more of that wonderful skin." Jellal whispered in Erza's ear as he pulled the hem of her shirt. Erza sat up and lifted her arms so the man could easily take it off.

He threw the shirt on the ground and addressed his attention to the girl again, to admire the view. Her silk-like skin had a silvery shine in the moonlight that seeped in through the window. The light skin contrasted with the dark lacy bra that carefully hid her round breast from sight. He gently pushed her back onto the sheets and attacked her lips while his hands explored the soft skin of her stomach. After a while his lips wandered to Erza's neck. He ran his tongue against the excited pulsing vein, down to her collarbone.

The princess clasped her fingers in the spikey blue hair. The bodyguard's warm tongue trailed further down, to the valley between her breasts. The scarlet girl let out a small gasp as his hands gently rubbed over the fabric of her bra. Jellal smirked proudly when hearing the little sound. He placed a final kiss between her breasts before sitting up a bit. He brought his hands to Erza's back to unclasp the bra. The girl arched her back, so he had better access to it. He swiftly opened it and pulled the bra off.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, the princess folded her arms before her chest, hiding her exposed skin from sight.

"Shy?" Jellal smiled.

"I… I don't know why… I've never really felt shy showing my naked body before. But somehow this is… different."

"Like I said before: if you want me to stop, you just have to say it." Jellal ran his fingers over her cheek. Seeing how considered he was of her, she took a deep breath and unfolded her arms.

Jellal admired the view of the full, round chest. "Why would you be shy about showing that beautiful body?" He pressed a little kiss against her forehead.

"C-Could you take something off too? It's… weird to be the only one." Erza smiled, still a bit shy.

The blue haired mage chuckled and nodded. He took off the bandages around his arms and when he reached for the hem of his shirt, to soft hands had already made it there before him. Erza pulled the shirt and revealed the chiseled body of Jellal. The past few weeks she had seen him without shirt a couple of times, but seeing him like that when he was straddling her naturally gave it a whole different atmosphere.

She trailed his abs with her fingers, trying to remember every detail off it. At some places she saw the light traces of scars and old wounds. A small line of blue hair led from his navel downwards to his… Erza gulped lightly when she thought about it.

Jellal leaned forward again and captured Erza's lips for another deep kiss. He gently pushed her back onto the bed and ran his hands up her hips, across her stomach, up to her breasts. He slowly started exploring them and squeezed them softly. Erza gasped and tightened her hold on Jellal's shoulders. Her hands wandered over his back and didn't leave a single piece of skin untouched.

"I- I think I'm going crazy." Erza panted quietly.

"Already? We're only just starting." Jellal smirked as he started kissing down the girl's neck. "I wasn't done thoroughly exploring these two yet..." He lightly squeezed Erza's breasts again. "And now with the bra gone…" He gently bit Erza's collarbone and traveled further down to the two perky mountains. He ran his tongue over the soft skin, carefully avoiding her nipples. Every time he got close to them Erza's body tensed up expectantly, but was disappointed each time by his teasing.

"J-Jellal…" Erza whimpered when he teased again, avoiding the sensitive pink dots. She grabbed his hair and tried to guide him towards them, not able to wait any longer.

Jellal chuckled and his cool breath hit her skin, giving her goosebumps. He ran his tongue from the bottom of her breast to the top, making one last teasing circle around the nub before flicking it with his tongue. A satisfied moan escaped the girl's mouth. The blue haired mage's lips and tongue kept playing with the nipples, switching breasts from time to time.

After a while he moved down, kissing towards her navel. He quickly dipped his tongue in it before moving forward, to the hem of her skirt. He kissed the skin above the piece of clothing, while his hands caressed her thighs. Erza's hand never left his hair and he could feel her fingers tighten their hold when he pulled the skirt a centimeter down. He looked up and met her eyes.

"Can I…?" He asked for permission, not sure if she wanted him to stop or not.

"Y-Yes…"

"You don't have to be nervous. I'll be gentle. As a bodyguard, I don't want to hurt my princess."

"I trust you." Erza ran her fingertips over his cheek. Jellal turned his head and kissed the gentle fingers.

His attention went back to the skirt. He tugged on it and pulled it off, throwing it on the ground with the rest of the clothes. He placed with the laces of the panties Erza was wearing.

"You always wear matching underwear?" He asked with a smile.

"Most of the time, I do."

"I like this pair. You look really good in them." He ran his tongue over the slightly moist fabric. "Seems like you were enjoying my touches."

Erza hummed and nodded. The tingling feeling between her legs only got worse, she rubbed her thighs together to add some friction, but she was stopped by Jellal.

"I will do it for you, princess." He pulled down the panties and revealed her warm entrance. He kissed the skin of her abdomen, hips, thighs and then gave a small lick at her clit. A loud gasp escaped the girl again and she parted her legs a bit more.

"M-More." She quietly moaned, her cheeks turning red. Jellal did a few more times, making her even wetter.

"Are you ready?" He asked as he brought his fingers to his mouth and moistened them with saliva, too make absolutely sure he didn't hurt her. The girl nodded in approval, so he slowly pushed one finger into her warmth.

"Ah! J-Jellal!" the girl arched her back in pleasure. He thrust his finger in and out while his tongue played with the sensitive little nub. After a while he inserted a second finger and started stretching her tight entrance.

"Just say it when it hurts." He panted. He felt his own arousal building up and he felt the growing discomfort of his pants. He couldn't wait much longer.

He inserted a third finger, but felt more resistance this time, her tight walls clammed down around his fingers. The girl let out a small groan of discomfort.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. The girl smiled at him.

"The pain is already fading."

He stretched her some more, but couldn't ignore his own throbbing member anymore. He pulled his fingers out and climbed back up, towards Erza's mouth, which he attacked with his own again.

"I can't wait any longer." He panted. Erza pushed the man up and sat up herself. She saw the budge in his pants. She followed the small line of hair from his navel to the hem of his pants and opened it, pulling them down, freeing the throbbing member. She gulped again as she saw it.

"Is that supposed to… fit in me?" She asked disbelieving.

"Like I told you: we can always stop if you want."

"No. I want it." She kissed his lips again. She pressed her body against his and enjoyed the feeling of skin against skin. She brought one hand down and hesitantly started stroking the large member. Jellal moaned when he felt the touch.

"I want to hear more of that." Erza smiled mischievously.

"You naughty." Jellal growled. He stroked his finger against her entrance again. They stayed like that for a while, exploring and enjoying each other.

After a while Jellal pushed her back onto the sheets and placed himself between her legs, not able to wait another second.

Erza could feel his throbbing member against her wanting entrance. She squirmed in impatience.

"Put it in, quickly." She panted. Jellal gladly did so and pushed forward. He could feel her warmth surround him, her tightness indulged him in bliss. He made sure not to move too fast to make sure he didn't hurt her too much.

Still she let out a small painful gasp when he entered her, but the pain subsided relatively quickly. He pulled out again, until only the tip was still inside her. He carefully watched her reactions and thrust back in. He kept this slow rhythm going for a while. The painful moans were soon replaced with ones of pleasure. When he was sure she didn't feel any more pain, he turned up his pace.

She happily moaned out his name while he thrust in and out of her. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. He softly bit her neck and suckled her skin, leaving a small mark.

Jellal couldn't get enough of the sight of her squirming in pleasure underneath him. He watched her clutch her fingers onto the sheets. When he slowed down his pace a bit, she replaced her hands to his shoulders, holding onto him.

The blue haired mage wanted to see more of her beautiful, arousing expressions. He snapped his hips harder this time. She moaned in ecstasy and clawed at his shoulders and neck.

"You like that?" He panted and licked her ear.

"Y-yes!" She cried out. She arched her back in pleasure again, pressing her breasts against his chest. She clawed at the sheets again, as he thrust in even harder.

Erza almost lost her mind at the feeling of him sliding in and out of her, wanting to feel even more. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him even closer. She felt how he entered her tightness even deeper. She moaned in satisfaction.

"You seemed so awfully innocent before and look at you now." Jellal smirked.

"You make me lose my mind." She met his thrusts by moving her hips. The man gritted his teeth, trying to hold back his orgasm. He was so aroused and exciting, he couldn't hold out much longer.

Their breaths got more and more ragged as they neared their climax.

"I can't hold back any longer, Erza." He managed to get out.

"N-Neither can I." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss. Their tongues desperately tried to taste as much of each other while their bodies continued their rhythm.

Jellal could feel Erza tighten even more around him, which made him tip over the edge.

"Erza!" He strained and spilled himself inside of her.

The throbbing feeling and the pressure made Erza climax too and she screamed out his name.

He looked down at her and saw her blissfully panting, her eyes half-lidded with pleasure. Her hair fanned her head, like beautiful scarlet flames.

"Most beautiful sight I've ever seen." He panted happily, before collapsing onto her. He buried his face in her neck and stayed like that for a while.

Their breaths were still scratchy, taking a while to regain their normal rhythms. He took a deep breath and pulled out of her. Both of them already missed the contact.

He lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms.

"That was amazing." He whispered as he kissed her forehead. She tiredly hummed and crawled a bit closer, pressing her body against his.

"I'm glad you were my first." She caressed the skin of his chest, sometimes placing a small kiss. "I never thought it would feel this good."

He tilted her head and placed a lovingly kiss on her lips. He wrapped his arms tighter around her as if he wanted to protect her, as the bodyguard he was.

"Should I go back to my room, so you can sleep quietly?" He asked after a while.

"Don't you dare. I want you to stay by my side." She nuzzled against his chest.

"I hoped you'd say that."

* * *

_So what did you think? I hope it was worth the wait._

_I promise I'll upload as soon as I find a bit of spare time!_

_Thank you for reading!_


	7. Blankets

Finally chapter 7 is out! I'm sorry it took so long even though I promised to upload as soon as possible. I uploaded the last chapter almost two months ago... TWO MONTHS. I'm terribly sorry, but anyway I finally made it.

**Important:** There is something I like to say though, before you may read the chapter.I originally planned to separate all the lemony stuff from the story so that the people who don't like reading it can skip it and still read the story. But after uploading _Scarlet Flames_, I noticed it was the most popular chapter! That only shows how perverted you guys are… I love it.

After noticing it I decided to just put the dirty stuff into the story, however if you don't like it like that after all, just let me know. This chapter has a bit of smut, not as extensive as last chapter of course, but you are warned.

Please enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Blankets**

By Neko Erza

When Erza woke up, the sun was just peeking out above the horizon. Even though she wasn't wearing any clothes, she felt comfortably warm. The source of this warmth was the strong arms of Jellal wrapped around her waist. Her head rested against the nook of his neck. She wiggled her body to get some more moving space and she tilted her head so she could look at him.

The blue haired man was still asleep and the always present frown was gone for once. She lightly traced the lines of his tattoo with the tip of her finger. A small smile formed around her lips when he unconsciously leaned in to her touches. She suddenly felt a sharp pain between her legs, which ade her clanch her teeth. She was still sore and sensitive from losing her virginity last night. Luckily the pain soon subsided again and she decided to ignre it and just enjoy this great moment for a while longer and snuggled closer to him. His arms instinctively wrapped tighter around Erza again. With this man beside her, she couldn't feel safer. She let out a content sigh.

* * *

After that she slumbered between being awake and asleep, just enjoying the moment. However that peace was soon disturbed. Erza cracked her eyes back open when she heard a faint rumbling in the hallway and it came closer and closer. The next moment something burst through the door. Jellal woke up from the smack and instinctively jumped up.

"ERZ…." The intruder shouted, but was roughly stopped when he was pinned to the wall by Jellal.

Erza quickly wrapped the blanket around her and turned around to see Jellal standing there naked, pushing a startled Natsu against the wall.

"Natsu? What the hell?" Erza asked surprised.

"That's what I should be asking! Why is there a naked guy holding me?" the dragon slayer asked annoyed.

Erza lay her hand on Jellal's shoulder to let him know he could let go. The man gave a last warning look at the pinkette and took a step back.

"Maybe you should…" Erza motioned at his still naked body.

"Ah, yes." Jellal said with a blush creeping up his face, he quickly put some pants on.

"What the hell are you doing, Natsu?" The scarlet mage turned back to the fire mage.

"I wanted to challenge you to a fight! But then that guy jumped me, who is he anyway?"

"What do you mean? This is my bodyguard." Erza asked surprised.

"Is that him?" Natsu said with a scanning look. "Yesterday he was wearing that weird mask-thingy."

"Doesn't matter." Erza stomped towards Natsu. "What's more important, where do you get the idea of breaking into people's rooms?!"

"Aye! I- I just wanted a fight!"

"You could have just asked… later!" she started pushing the dragon slayer out the door. But the dragon slayer just turned around again walked back into the room.

"Hey, why are you both naked anyway?" the dragon slayer asked totally clueless. A dark color of red crept up both Jellal's and Erza's face.

"Just come back here, you dense flamebrain." The voice of Gray sounded; a second later he appeared in the door opening.

"What did you say, ice queen?" Natsu's attention instantly changed to the ice mage.

"Just come with me." The raven mage sighed then turned to the princess. "Sorry for disturbing your… well, sorry for disturbing."

"Ok… what the hell was that?" Jellal asked stunned.

"Natsu used to always challenge me when we were younger, at the most awkward times."

"Yeah looks like it."

Jellal looked at the princess and the blush returned to his face. The blanket she had tightly wrapped around her was pretty transparent and he could see her naked body through it. Erza noticed it too and her cheeks went hot. They stood like that, both almost completely naked, in awkward silence for a while. Then the princess let out a chuckle.

"Why are we embarrassed?" she whispered, trying to hold back her laugh. Jellal's face relaxed to and a big smile appeared on his face.

"I have no idea…" he chuckled quietly. "You're just so beautiful…" He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around the princess again. He placed a small kiss on the top of her scarlet hair. After a while Jellal chuckled again.

"What?" Erza asked with a smile, looking up at his face.

"That pink haired one is really dense." He chuckled.

"Haha, yeah that's Natsu, he is great tough."

"Too bad he barged in…" Jellal stared into the princess' eyes, which made her heart do a little jump. Every time he looked at her like that she could feel a warm sensation within her, making her forget about everything else. The only things left were those two dark orbs and the excitatory feeling of his skin against hers. Erza stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against her servant's, pressing her body even closer to his.

"I need a shower." She broke the kiss after a while. "I'm all sticky."

"I need one too." The blue haired mage said after pressing a last quick kiss on her lips.

"Why don't we take one together?"

"To-together?" Jellal asked, the crimson color turning back to his face.

"Just calm down." Erza chuckled. "Like we said before, why should we be embarrassed?"

"Y-yeah…"

Erza broke free from his grip and frolicked to the bathroom door. "And calm down, you might die from a nosebleed." Before entering the bathroom she dropped the blanket to the floor.

* * *

The cool water ran down her back, making small rivers down her back. Jellal's finger followed a lonely drop that slowly slid down Erza's neck, over her collarbone, down her breast, all the way to her hip. That single touch sent a shiver down her spine. The blue haired mage placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him.

"I never thought it would feel so good to feel your skin against mine." He said, placing his forehead against hers.

"It does feel amazing, doesn't it?"

"We should hurry up tough, since we're leaving today."

"Yes, I know…" Erza said a bit disappointed.

"I'll wash your back." Jellal smiled.

Erza placed a small kiss on his lips before turning around. Jellal's hands gently rubbed her back, the soap leaving pinkish foam.

"I'm really surprised your hands are this soft, somehow I thought they would be all rough."

"You don't like it, I can be a bit rougher?" Jellal said with a mischievous smile as he lightly used his nails to scratch her.

"Ah! No, no, no, I do like it!" Erza chuckled. "I love it that they're so soft."

"Well good." Jellal placed a tiny kiss on the back of her neck before continuing the back rub. After a while Erza let out a snicker.

"I don't know what you understand under 'washing your back', but those are definitely not on my back." She looked down at the two hands that were now holding her breast.

"I'm sorry. Guess I slipped." Jellal said with a mischievous smile again.

Erza turned around with a smile, Jellal placed his hands back on her hips. "You're such a… difficult man to understand."

Jellal's smile faded away, regaining his normal serious look. "What do you mean?"

"No, it's not a bad thing. It's just… you can change personalities so quickly, almost like you're two different people."

"I do?"

"Yes, one moment you're all serious and saying that it's so wrong, the other moment you're so… naughty."

The blue haired mage let out a laugh. "Naughty?" he asked still chuckling.

"I don't know how I should say it any other way."

"Well, if I'm naughty, you're at least twice as naughty as me, princess."

Erza snickered. "Shut up and continue washing me, I was enjoying it."

"Your wish is my command, princess." The mage said with a little bow and continued his gentle soapy caresses. He gently sat down on his knees and ran his hands over her legs. He noticed that they were shaking lightly.

"Are you okay? Your legs are shaking." He asked worried.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit wobbly from… last night." She said with a blush, even though she had said herself it was otiose.

"Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't really hurt; it's just still somewhat sensitive. There was a little blood earlier."

"That's normal, right? When a girl loses her…" Jellal asked worried.

"Yes, it's normal. No need to stress, nor to feel guilty, alright?" The scarlet mage said with a comforting smile.

"Still, maybe I should… ease it?" The blue haired male said, a naughty grin forming on his face when he said the latter part.

Erza grinned widely. "You see, you ARE naughty."

Jellal shrugged. "Maybe just a little."

He ran his hands down her hips and legs one last time before lifting her left leg up and swinging it over his right shoulder. Erza felt her face starting to heat up due to the embarrassing position she was in. For some reason it bothered her more in this position than when they did it last night lying on the bed.

Jellal could hear the princess' restrained gasp when he lightly ran his fingers over her entrance, which brought a proud smirk to his face. He sat up a little straighter so he could place kisses on her hipbones and stomach, scraping his teeth over the tender skin every now and then. The bashfulness he usually felt before had vanished once again.

"How are you feeling?" He asked with a seductive voice as his fingers ran over her sensitive parts again while he licked over her hip.

"G-Good." Erza panted at the arousing touches.

"I'm sorry for hurting you last night." He said as he saw little tears at her entrance caused by him entering her.

"I didn't expect it to be painless." Erza said, trying to stop her panting. She clutched a lock of his hair as he gave an agonizing slow lick between her legs.

"Like I said, I'll ease it. Your body's well-being is my job after all." He said with a smirk before continuing.

He placed a kiss under her navel and trailed further down like that. He reached the small line of trimmed dark red hair which tickled his face a bit. He shifted her leg a bit so he could easier reach her entrance. He suckled on her clit while he carefully pressed one finger inside of her. He could feel she was already pretty moist and not because of the shower. He enjoyed listening to her excited moans and her idle attempts to hold them back. He was careful to not put in more than two fingers to make sure to not tear her further.

"J-Jellal! I can't hold ba-back much longer." The princess moaned as she tightened her grip on her bodyguard's hair and pulled him a bit closer with the leg that lay over his shoulder. Jellal could feel her toes curl in pleasure against his back.

The man gently scraped his teeth against the sensitive nub while he gave one final thrust with his fingers. He felt her tighten around him for a second as she screamed out his name in pleasure. He looked up to her and saw her flushed face. He placed one last kiss on her inner thigh while swinger her leg from his shoulder. When he was sure she stood firmly, he stood up.

"We should probably round up this shower and head to the guild." Jellal said with a smile. Erza just nodded, still trying to catch her breath.

* * *

"Hey, you guys! Come sit over here!" Mirajane said with a big smile when Erza and Jellal entered the bar.

"Hi Mira." The scarlet girl waved. She sat down on one of the bar stools, tapping the one beside her mentioning Jellal should sit down too. Once they entered a place where people were gathered, like the bar, he became bashful again. He had put on his mask, only showing his watchful eyes. Loke, Gray and Natsu probably were the only ones in the guild that had seen him without the mask.

"I've been meaning to ask you something." The bartending mage said.

"Go ahead."

"I've been meaning to ask you this all week. Did you ever happen to meet a man named Elfman?"

"Elfman?" Erza asked, noticing it did ring a bell. "That name sounds familiar, yes."

"He's a tall muscular guy with spikey white. He signed up to become your bodyguard a while ago. You kind of beat him up."

"Oh!" The princess said as she remembered the man. "Tall guy with a scar on his right eye?"

"Yes, indeed. He's my brother."

"Y-Your brother? I'm so sorry! I- I didn't mean to…"

"No worries. I didn't think he was fit for it anyway. I just wondered if you remembered him. And I kind of wondered why you were so rough with him." The girl tittered.

"I didn't want to have a bodyguard actually. So…"

"What about Mystogan then?" The white mage asked surprised.

"I kind of had a deal with him, if he managed to beat me, I would accept him as my bodyguard. I didn't think he would be able to, but he was. I keep my promises and that's how I ended up with him." The scarlet mage said, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"My, how adorable." The bartender excitingly clapped her hands. "But anyway, what can I get for you?"

"Some breakfast would be nice." Erza said smiling back.

"Of course, princess."

"I told you already. Erza is fine." The scarlet mage said, she didn't want to be treated differently than anybody else. "I really hate being called princess."

"It's only normal for people to show respect, Erza." Jellal said as he sat down beside her.

"I want people to respect me for my character or my skills, not my title. A title like 'princess' isn't something that you earn." Erza reasoned.

"They do respect you for that." Jellal said. Even though he wore a mask, Erza was pretty sure he said it with a smile.

"My, I think this is the first time I hear you speak." Mira tittered as she placed two mugs before them. "Usually you just sit hidden in a corner, glaring at everyone, not saying a word. I almost thought you lost your tongue."

"I… I'm not that comfortable around people. Sorry." The man said with an apologizing head nod.

"It's okay. I'll just tell you that everyone is accepted into Fairy Tail and that there's no reason to feel uncomfortable."

"This really is an amazing place, although I regret it that I lost both Loke and Gray to Fairy Tail." The scarlet mage said with a sad smile.

"We'll take good care of them." The white haired bartender assured. "Although they can be hard to handle sometimes. Gray is constantly scattering around clothes, walking around naked and Loke has tried to flirt up every girl in a ten kilometer radius."

"Yeah, sounds just like them. But hey, you've been able to handle Salamander for some years already and from what I've heard most of the members are troublemakers." Erza chuckled. "So two more of them shouldn't be a problem, I guess. I trust you guys."

"It's nice to hear that, pri- Erza. Oh and by the way, I'm sorry that I've kind of eavesdropped on your conversation but Mystogan is right you know. People do respect you for who you are, not what you are. I've heard some people give you the name 'Titania'." The white haired mage grinned.

"Titania? As in Titania the Fairy Queen?" The princess chuckled. "Well, it's not necessary to call me that, but I don't mind this one that much."

"Tehee, it's a nice name ind- Hey! Gray put your pants back on!" the bartender said averting her attention to the stripping ice mage. You know, if you were a girl you'd get date raped a lot."

The ice mage just shrugged as he looked around to find out where he left his pants. After not seeing it anywhere in the guild he came over to the bar and sat down beside the princess.

"I really thought you controlled your bad habit at least a bit, but I guess I was wrong." Erza chuckled. "You'd better just paint clothes on, you know."

"Or I should start wearing transparent blankets." Gray smirked as he gave her a wink.

The scarlet mage turned as red as her hair and even though you could barely see his face, Jellal obviously had a blush too. The ice mage burst out laughing.

"I won't tell anyone, although you should tell that to that dense flamebrain too. He hasn't got a clue of what you've guys done, so he won't think twice about telling it to others."

"I..." Erza started.

"Gray! You shouldn't say such stuff." Mira reprimanded the ice mage while she put down the food.

"Y- You know?" Erza said, blushing even more.

The girl shrugged apologizing. "Natsu."

"I can't believe him." Erza said shaking her head. Jellal remained silent, not feeling comfortable at all.

"I'll make sure he won't tell anyone else." Mira whispered before continuing with serving the others.

"I still wonder what an innocent girl like Mira is doing between all these rough mages."

Gray practically spit out his drink. "Innocent? Mira? You've gotta be kidding."

"What do you mean?" Erza asked surprised.

"Never heard of Demon Mirajane? Satan's descendant?" Gray asked.

"Of course I have: the mage with the take over Satan Soul. Is that Mira?"

"Yeah she is."

"Wow." Jellal said surprised.

"Yeah, she calmed down a few years back whe-" Gray was roughly interrupted by Jet barging in the guild.

"Desierto troops are attacking the border!" He screamed. All the present mages shot up from their chairs and ran off to defend the borders. They were used to this drill already.

"Jet, are you alright?" Erza asked when she saw the man was way to shocked to just bring news they received frequently.

"Princess Erza!" He ran up to her. "It's not just a regular attack."

"What do you mean?" Master Makarov asked when he came to look at what the commotion was all about.

"Master! It's not just the few usual troops we're used to." Jet said looking at the master, princess and her bodyguard.

"It's a whole army."

**End of chapter 7**

* * *

_So what do you think? I hope you liked it and look forward to the next chapter. I'll be sure to not let you wait this long again..._

_Thanks for reading!_


	8. Goodbye

Chapter number 8 is here, not as soon as I had hoped though, but still it didn't took me nearly two months like last time. It's not that long, since I plan to upload the rest as another chapter. It was starting to get a little too long. Even so I hope you like it.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Goodbye**

By Neko Erza

* * *

The princess, her bodyguard and the guild master looked stunned by the news.

"A whole army?" Erza said confounded.

"At least fifty times as many people as the last attacks. I'm not sure we'll be able to stop them." Jet nodded.

"We have to stop them!" Erza said determined. She took a step closer to Jet. "Has everybody been informed?"

"Yes, I passed by all the lookouts and the whole guild. Everybody who's able to fight is already going to their assigned spot."

"Great." The mastered said as he jumped from the chair and trotted to the door. Everywhere in the guild members were getting ready for battle. When they stepped outside, all the mages that had been in the guild before were running towards the forest down the hill, where the border of the kingdom was located.

Even though she was immensely concerned about the attack, Erza couldn't help but let out a small snicker when she passed by a discarded clothing outfit which she recognized as Gray's. It did reassure her a bit that her friend was obviously ready for battle.

They went straight for one off the lookout towers and climbed up the stairs. Fairy Tail's strategic planner was commanding everyone what and where to defend first, to make sure that this attack would be shattered as soon as possible. Once on the top Erza saw a posture that was very familiar to her. The broad shoulders, the tattoos and spikey blond hair could only belong to one man.

"Laxus?" The scarlet mage asked surprised as she saw the man that once had been commander of the royal army. He had won many battles and was a true hero of war, although he had some trouble with sticking to the law sometimes.

"Princess." The tall man greeted with a cocky grin. "Been a while."

"Is this where you've been hiding all this time?"

"Hiding?" Laxus laughed. "I haven't been hiding, little girl. After I was exiled from the palace, I just found another way of serving this country."

Jellal looked at the princess with a questioning look. Erza explained. "Laxus was exiled because he threatened the royal advisor. The advisor then robbed him from his title as commander and banished him from the kingdom."

"Yeah, what a wonderful guy it was indeed." The blonde mage chuckled sarcastically while he focused his attention back on the maps before him.

"Yeah, but it wasn't his decision to make. You know father and I would never have banished you. We had people looking for you to make you come back."

The man turned around with his typical cocky grin plastered to his face. "Maybe it was for the best, I never really liked playing by the rules and here I can do whatever I want."

"That's obvious. You were banished from the kingdom and yet here you are within the borders." The scarlet girl answered equally cocky. Then her face went softer. "But I'm glad you're defending those borders. I wouldn't trust anyone else more with this kind of job."

"Well stop blabbering then and let me get back to work, lady." The man grumbled before turning to his maps once more. "I have to make sure nobody fucks up."

When Erza stepped closer to the edge of the lookout tower she could overlook a great distance. Closer than she had feared she saw a flood of people and even though they were too far away to clearly see it, she knew the emblem on their chest was that of Desierto kingdom. Not far from the border she saw the first rebels starting to line up to defend their country.

"We'll help too." Erza said as she looked at Jellal. She made her way towards the stairs again.

"Erza, no!" Her bodyguard said as he grabbed her arm to stop her. "It's way too dangerous."

"Your companion is right, miss Scarlet." Makarov commented. "We can't risk getting you hurt or captured."

"But I can't just sit around and do nothing!"

"Yes, you will." The master said firmly. He knew how important the princess was for their country. She was one of the last reasons the people of Fiore kept on fighting. Makarov turned to the bodyguard. "Jellal, take her away from here and protect her with your life. Our guild will make sure you'll get enough time to get away."

"I will." The cloaked man answered.

"No, I'm not leaving you guys behind!" The princess protested. She looked disbelieving at the men in front of her. She couldn't just abandon her new found friends just like that. She would feel selfish and guilty for letting these people fight so that she could escape.

"It's more important that you live." The small master said with a stern voice. The princess wanted to protest again, but he gave her a discharging look.

"Fine." She finally gave in with a huff.

"You should head home and tell the king about the current situation." The little grey man looked over to the approaching army with a concerned look. "I have a feeling that king Jiemma has started what he hopes will be the final battle."

"He finally has enough manpower. But we won't give up so easily." Laxus grumbled as he tried to make up the best possible battle plan.

Jellal grabbed Erza's wrist and slightly tugged it. "Come on, Erza. We better get going. It's still a long way to the palace."

"I advise going through the woods." Laxus said without turning around. "It will take you longer to get there, but it will be safer."

"We will." Jellal nodded.

Erza said a quick goodbye, wishing she could have spent more time in the place that had become a second home in less than a week. She had hoped she could have said her goodbyes to everyone, but of course she knew now wasn't time to do so.

Jellal grabbed her arm again and pulled her with him, running down the stairs. They made a quick stop at the guild to pick up their stuff. When they entered the main building, they were stopped by two familiar faced.

"Gray, Loke!" Erza said, slightly relieved she could at least see them before leaving.

"We heard you're leaving for the palace. We can't let you go without a goodbye." Loke said as he crashed the girl into a hug.

"I'll go and get the stuff, you can say your goodbyes." Jellal said quickly as he left in the direction of their chambers. For a second Erza wondered if he was a bit jealous of Loke and Gray hugging her. Especially since he knew she and the ice mage had once been more than just friends. Some little part of her kind of hoped he was a bit jealous.

"We stay here and help the guild defend the border." Gray said as he unwrapped his arms from her. "We'll make sure you get away safely."

"I feel so bad leaving you behind." The scarlet girl said as she felt tears sting behind her eyes.

"We can't let anything happen to our precious little princess, now can we?" The raven mage teased as he tugged a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Shut up, you idiot." She said as she hardly slapped his shoulder.

"Let us know when you arrive at the palace," Loke said. "So that we know you're safe."

"I'm more concerned about you guys, it's a whole army." The princess said, unable to conceal her worry.

"Come on, we can beat those guys in no time." The orange haired mage said with a cocky grin.

"Yes indeed. I mean, just Loke and me should be enough." The ice mage joked as he fist bumped his friend. The two men hoped they could lift her worry a bit by joking around.

"You two really are crazy." Erza chuckled. "Don't you dare get hurt, by the way. If one of you does, I'll kick your ass even more."

"We know." The men smiled in unison.

"Oh and Erza…" Loke started as he adjusted his glasses a bit. A faint blush appeared on his face, which was a rare sight. "Could you tell Lucy that I miss her?"

A big smile appeared on Erza's and Gray's face. "I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that."

They just finished their goodbyes when Jellal entered the guild again, their stuff safely tugged away in a backpack. He motioned Erza that it was time to leave.

The princess smiled a sad smile at her friends. "Bye, guys. I'll really miss you. Please be safe."

When she turned around she felt cold fingers wrap around her wrist that kept her in place. She looked around, although she knew the cold touch belonged to the ice mage. She stared at the dark blue eyes, questioning why he would stop her.

"Erza." He whispered. He looked over her shoulder at the waiting bodyguard. Erza knew he had been not too fond of her new bodyguard from the beginning. It had been bothering her a lot that one of her best friends didn't like or trusted the guy that was supposed to be protecting her. And for whom she was slowly falling for more and more.

"What is it, Gray?"

"You know I never really liked, nor trusted that guy." The raven started as he threw another glance over her shoulder.

"I know that, Gray." Erza sighed. "And it's not very nice to hear that just before leaving."

"I know, I know. Let me finish." Gray stopped her. He let out a deep sigh. "I didn't trust him but… I've seen that you really do, even so much that you were apparently willing to give up your virginity to him."

"H-How did you…" The scarlet mage stammered as her face got the same color as her hair.

"Come on, Scarlet." The raven lightly chuckled. "I saw you this morning, remember? That guy stark naked and you only wrapped in a blanket. It's not really hard to figure out, is it?"

The princess shyly looked to the side. Gray continued. "By the way, my room's next to yours. And believe me, the walls aren't that thick."

"Are you going somewhere with this? I have to leave." Erza interrupted, fearing she might explode with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry." Gray said with a badly suppressed chuckle. Then his face went serious again. "I'll just get to the point; if you trust him to these extends… I trust him too."

Erza looked slightly stunned, then smiled. "Thank you, Gray. It really means a lot to me."

The scarlet mage gave her two friends one last hug, then ran over to her bodyguard, leaving the guild she had come to love. The ice mage looked after them, a look with worry hidden within plastered on his face.

Loke looked at the mage beside him with a judging look. "You liar."

"What?" The raven grumbled.

"That was clearly a lie. You still don't like him."

"Shut up. If it sooths her mind, I'll be happy to tell this lie. I knew it bothered her and I might not get the chance to tell her after today." Gray sighed.

"Hey, don't you plan dying on me."

The cocky grin returned to Gray's face. "Of course I won't. I won't grand the flame brain that pleasure."

With that the two mages left for the battlefield, ready to risk their lives for the safety of the country, but more so their friends.

**End of chapter 8**

* * *

_I know it wasn't that long, but I'd still like to know what you think. Also tell me what you'd like to see happen. _

_I'll upload the next chapter as soon as possible. And be prepared! Something big is going to happen._


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